Free Thought Society should focus on other battles ... not Christmas

The Free Thought Society of Chester County has again asked the county commissioners to permit the “Tree of Knowledge” to stand on the Old Historic Courthouse lawn during the Christmas season.

This Free Thought group, which identifies itself as “nontheists,” has said through its leader, Margaret Downey, that it wants to celebrate the holiday alongside the others who profess faith in God -- while they don‘t.

And, according to Downey, they want to decorate their tree with the literature and or book covers of great thinkers.

The trouble is that Downey and the Free Thought Society are trying to compare apples and oranges, so to speak.

They are implying by their request that great thinkers are the opposite of believers in a higher power. But, the truth is, through the years, many of the greatest thinkers in history have also expressed a belief in God. In other words, faith is not inimical with intelligence.

We do not want to totally discredit Ms. Downey, however. We admire people who have the faith and wisdom to admit that they doubt the existence of something or someone “out there,” or those who say if God does exist, he or she is not known or knowable.

We take issue, though, with the group’s attack on Christmas, one of the most universally enjoyed and celebrated holidays of the year.

It has become a season of gift-giving, shopping, trees, colored lights, eating, parties, Santa Claus and getting together with old friends. It is a month-long bacchanalia that ushers in the winter season -- and you don’t have to be a Christian to have fun with it.

Even Pantheists love Christmas trees.

Indeed, there is a percentage of believers who take seriously actually marking the birth of the Christ, but they really show their true substance by observing the arrival and resurrection of the Messiah with good works everyday of the year.

The Free Thought Society should pick on something other than the public observance of Christmas for their protest efforts.

There are organizations and individuals who spread hate, prejudice and discrimination in the name of religion. That’s where the Free Thought Society should go to work.

One potential target is the people who protest the “Mix It Up At Lunch” project -- the kind that the Avon Grove Charter School has planned for this week.

They say in the name of religion that students should not work to overcome bullying -- that making friends with new people is some kind of a plot.

Let the Free Thought Society be present at that event.

Let them show up at the military funerals where the Westboro Baptists appear to demonstrate in the name of the Bible.

Let them take a stand against the Amish who shun members of their own families whose only sin is engaging in free thinking or questioning.

There is -- and has been throughout history -- plenty of ill will and harm done in the name of religion against creativity, free-thinking and even just daring to be different.

That’s where the Free Thought Society belongs -- standing up to the witch burners.